He might spend the morning putting on his makeup, but that doesn't mean the KISS guitarist doesn't have time to call TG

I got my first real six-string
"I come from a real musical family. My mom was a concert violinist, a
very astute musician and vocalist also, so we grew up with a lot of
classical music around the house, and show tunes. I got all the best of
the classics and of popular music being drummed into my ears from the
get-go. We had a guitar sitting around - it was a cheap, small-scale
Stella acoustic guitar. I started learning the basic chords when I was
about 12 or 13 years old. My mom saw that I was into it, and she helped
me purchase my first electric guitar. We ended up buying a Fender
Mustang."

Dream On

"I just dreamed of owning a Les
Paul some day, because I had seen pictures of bands, and all my favorite
guitar players played Les Pauls. We're talkin' about Ronnie Montrose,
Peter Frampton, Davey Johnstone from Elton John's band, Steve Marriott.
And even KISS actually: from the beginning, Ace was playing Les Pauls. I
had that Fender Mustang and I was stoked, but it didn't sound that
great. About a year later, I got a Les Paul. In the used ads in the
newspaper, I found a '72/'73 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Goldtop. I think I
bought that for about $400." I was made for lovin' you baby, you were made for lovin' me

"I was thinking I would like to do a signature guitar - a limited
edition Les Paul - and I thought it would be cool to go to Epiphone to
do it. The reason was so I could make a really high-quality guitar that
was also affordable to everyone. I sent Jim Rosenberg (president of
Epiphone) all the specs for my Gibson Silver Sparkle Top, and the point
he made was great, he said: 'Tommy we need to make this guitar exactly
like your other one, right down to the tuners, to the exact pickups.' We
took all the best parts, good-quality Gibson 498 pickups, which I've
used forever. Even the bridge pickup cover was removed - if it's good
enough for Jimmy Page, it's good enough for me!"

Listen, do you want to know a secret?

"Don't be self-conscious; try to relax. When you're onstage you need to
be more in the moment. Things flow twice as well when you approach it
that way. Now, it's important when you're rehearsing and practicing to
do the opposite: you should be thinking and analysing. But when you
actually get onstage, you just wanna quit thinking and just be feeling!
(laughs) You can't play your best when you're thinking too much."

Shut up 'n' play yer guitar

"My philosophy for guitar playing, or trying to make it in the music
business generally, is that you need to persevere. The key is putting
yourself out there, and making something happen on your own. I think
that's more important than how talented someone is. I really do.

Strange times are here

"Well the strangest gig, honestly, was the first gig I played with
KISS. It was a private concert in Jamaica for 100 people. There was this
guy, it was his birthday. He was this very wealthy Russian man, 30
years old, and he had a party down there and we were hired to come down
and play. I'm sure they paid us well to do it, but it was very strange,
because being onstage in front of just 100 people was very bizarre; we
had a full-size stage, full production, full everything - make-up,
costumes, boots."